Hampton claim early success with victory in Esher President’s Cup

Hampton School put down their marker for the season and emerged as early contenders for a Twickenham appearance in the Daily Mail RBS U18 Cup when they won the Esher President’s Cup last Sunday.

Even though it is so early in the season and teams are at different stages of match and general fitness, it won’t have escaped Hampton that Whitgift won Esher last season and went on to retain the Cup with that stunning display against Oakham at Twickenham.

Winning Hampton School 1st XV with the Esher President's Cup

Hampton, in terms of fitness and cohesion, have stolen a march on some of their rivals as a result of their tour to the US, New Zealand and Fiji in the summer and they met up-and-coming Abingdon in the final, a squad fresh from an unbeaten tour to South Africa. And Esher was a tournament which involved such heavyweights as champions Whitgift, John Fisher, Wellington, RGS High Wycombe, Brighton College and Dulwich, who have entered the U18 Cup for the first time this season.

Many of Zoran Higgins’s Hampton squad are still smarting from their dramatic late exit at home in the last 16 at the hands of St Joseph’s, Ipswich last season but, if truth be known, they probably lacked a game breaker in the backs to go all the way. This season, they will be big and powerful up front again, but the arrival of centres Alex Taverner (ex Holyfield) and Kane Albonie (ex Richard Challoner) will spice up the midfield and there seems no reason why their formidable looking pack cannot provide the new boys with ammunition.

Giant prop Alex Wood is one of five players, who have had three seasons of 1st XV rugby, and was also a member of the Hampton U15 team, which lost a quarter-final to Barnard Castle with the last kick of the game. ‘This is my last shot, and the signs are that it could be the best chance of reaching Twickenham,’ said Wood. ‘Not many teams will relish playing us and the whole squad is together from the start.’

Captain Laurence Brown holds aloft the Esher President's Cup